Around 10,000 technical institutes affiliated to AICTE are set to introduce the
flipped classroom teaching method from 2019-20 academic session.

New Delhi: Technical education institutions in India are on the cusp of adopting the flipped classroom learning method, taking a cue from a number of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) that already rely on the technique for some of their lectures.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body for technical education institutions, is all set to introduce the model of teaching in colleges affiliated to it from the 2019-20 academic session.

A flipped classroom reverses the teaching method, where the student is required to first learn about a concept from a video online before a discussion ensues in the classroom.

The AICTE wants to adopt this method of teaching in order to make sure students are able to utilise their time in problem-solving in classrooms and are able to learn better.

Currently, institutes such as the IITs in Delhi, Bombay and Kharagpur have adopted the method for some of their lectures.

“Adopting flipped classrooms will be one of the ways in which we improve the standards of learning for our students, thereby making them more industry ready,” said a senior AICTE official.

“Our students have always been touted as unemployable and not ready for industry. This is why we have been trying to make efforts to change this,” he added. “We have already changed our curriculum and now we are trying to change the way in which students are taught.”

To begin from next academic session

There are over 10,000 technical colleges in the country affiliated to AICTE. To begin with, the council plans to introduce flipped learning in engineering and management institutions. The colleges have been asked to adopt the flipped classroom model initially at the first-year level from the 2019-20 academic session.

The council is in the process of uploading lecture videos and other study material on its website so that it can be made available to the teachers.

It will also provide training to faculty members in colleges that want to adopt the model so this can be implemented in a better manner, ThePrint has learnt.

In a typical flipped classroom, at the first stage, learning material like lectures and videos are recorded and students are asked to go through them.

A time for discussion on those topics is also fixed in advance. Students go through the lectures and come to the class for problem solving and discussions on the given topics.

A number of institutions abroad have already adopted the flipped learning model successfully for over 10 years now. John Bergman, an American middle school teacher, now an educationist, is believed to be the pioneer of the model.